The last post had the hosts at Radio-X set up the scenario for receiving fishing stories. This time we’ll get right into the stories.

I’ve ranked them with varying degrees of difficulty based on

the vocabulary being used

the accents being used (you’ll notice at least three different regional accents in these six posts, all from Eastern Québec).

the speed and rhythm with which the callers are speaking.

Despite the language difficulties, these posts should be reassuring to Anglophone Canadians. As you go through these learning exercises, you will notice that direct equivalents exist in colloquial Canadian-Québécois French for things which are said in colloquial Canadian English.

This is often not the case with French from Europe.

I’m not referring to “anglicismes” or “calques”, but rather I’m referring to the syntax or expressions which are signs that Anglophones and Francophones in Canada seem to have the same visual and lexical thought process when choosing how to say things (I believe that it shows we culturally share much of the same mental thought process when choosing our words).

Yet, I find if one were to express the same circumstances using European French, from a syntax and situational context, the way it would be expressed would be very different — and the FEEL would be completely different (whereas the feel would be culturally much the same for Canadian Francophones and Anglophones).

The thought process in Europe (ie: how people run through scenarios in their mind as they’re searching for words) sometimes can be culturally different.

This is one reason I have always advised Anglophone Canadians to take the easier route and to learn their own version of French than the European version of French.

It is also for this reason that it is better to learn Canadian French if most interactions will be with Canadian French speakers (and not with Europe). You’ll be able to better relate to others, and others will be better able to relate to you (if no other viewpoint, than on a peer-to-peer level, not to mention any subconscious mutual understanding and acceptance as kin).

Some people say “When in Rome…”. Yet in this case it should be “When in North America…”.

So, I went fishing with my dad. And then we regularly went to this river. And the canoe is always there, ready. And it’s sitting upside down on the bank. We pushed. We were off. Each, My dad was at the end, he’s rather up there in age. And me, well, I pushed the canoe, and we were off.

And me, I had my lifejacket. And all of a sudden I realized that it was a bit hot out. So I took off my lifejacket, I took off my vest, and I put my lifejacket back on. I took my vest, I put it in the tip of the canoe. What came out of the tip? A garter snake.

Uh, well, let’s just say that I didn’t like the garter snake. So there, I threw the oar. The oar ended up in the housing rings. I pushed off at any rate. I went for my dad in the end of the boat. So there, it was heavier on the side. So my dad yelled “you’re going to drown us!”